1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electronic messaging systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to methods and systems for organizing a message thread.
2. The Relevant Technology
Modern computer systems allow for the interchange of data and resources through network environments. Electronic messaging systems, such as email and instant messaging, are widely used by individuals and businesses for providing a rapid, low cost means of communication. Certain electronic messaging systems provide a documented record of all communications sent to and from a particular user. One common example is email, which will be used for purposes of describing the present invention. However, it will be appreciated that the features of the present invention extend to other forms of messaging that may also provide a documented record of communications, such as, but not limited to, instant messaging.
Email threads often become long and unwieldy as each successive drafter responds to earlier email messages in an email thread. This is particularly true where messages are being sent to multiple recipients, and each recipient has the ability to respond to one or more of the other recipients. The email threads may become particularly complex when response emails include duplicate content of earlier emails in the email thread, or when the response drafter includes inline comments within the content of an earlier email. The end result is that readers typically re-read much, if not all, of the email thread to fully understand the context of each email.
Various techniques have been employed for organizing and displaying email messages and email threads. For example, one common method of organizing and displaying email to a reader is to display a list of all messages in an inbox to the reader in chronological or reverse chronological order. The reader can view the content of each message by selecting the message. Upon selecting the message, the content of the message is displayed to the reader. Typically, if the selected message is a response to one or more previous messages, a duplicate of the content of all previous messages is also included underneath the content of the selected message. As described above, where a particular message thread is later in a long line of responses, the duplication of the content of the previous messages can become quite lengthy and cumbersome.
This shortcoming is compounded by the fact that respondents have the ability to branch off a main message thread and conduct a side message thread between two or all of the participants in a message thread. Again, both the main message thread and the side message thread will suffer from the problem of including duplicate content from the messages lying in the message thread.
Furthermore, most current methods typically list each email message within a user's inbox in chronological order, regardless of whether the messages are related to a common subject or thread. This method of combining all emails into one chronological listing is often confusing to a user when the user would like to follow a particular thread of related emails. Even where an email service divides the emails into separate threads according to subject matter, many email services simply display each individual email in chronological order, without regard to the actual flow of the conversation. As mentioned above, side message threads can branch off a main message thread, but may not be apparent to a reader due to the chronological listing of e-mail messages is often confusing to a reader.
The subject matter claimed herein is not limited to embodiments that solve any disadvantages or that operate only in environments such as those described above. Rather, this background is only provided to illustrate one exemplary technology area where some embodiments described herein may be practiced.